Billboard CD reviews: Britney Spears, Delta Bluesmen

ARTIST: BRITNEY SPEARS

ALBUM: CIRCUS

NEW YORK (Billboard) - From the synthy open of "Womanizer" to the regretful ache spurring "Blur," "Circus" gives Brit pop a whole new meaning, as the singer does double duty as a dance diva and brokenhearted balladeer. It's no easy feat, but when Spears shoves aside the tabloid trauma and hooks up with the right producers, she's in a class of her own. The iPods of the dumped will have "Out From Under" on repeat, and if censors turn a deaf ear to the racy wordplay of the chorus to "If U Seek Amy," it could move beyond the club to radio. One quibble: On beat-blasting tracks like "Circus" and "Kill the Lights" the lyrics rehash the "it's deeply weird to be famous" themes Spears already locked down on "Lucky" and "Piece of Me." Here's to moving on.

ARTIST: VARIOUS ARTISTS

ALBUM: LAST OF THE GREAT MISSISSIPPI DELTA BLUESMEN: LIVE IN DALLAS (The Blue Shoe Project)

This epic gathering of blues legends finds David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Robert Lockwood Jr., Henry James Townsend and Pinetop Perkins having a hell of a night for a quartet with an average age of 91. The 18 tunes, taped in 2004 in Dallas, range from the elemental country blues of Muddy Waters' "Country Boy," performed by Edwards, to an uptempo arrangement of "Hangin' On," complete with a horn section, featuring Lockwood on vocals. Perkins knocks down a very hip cover of "Kansas City" and then tears it up again on "Got My Mojo Working." Townsend works his way through a low-down blues shuffle on "If You Don't Want Me," and the album concludes with Lockwood's wonderful cover of "See See Rider Blues."

ARTIST: AKON

ALBUM: FREEDOM (Konvict/Upfront/SRC/Universal)

Last month, Akon told Billboard he was leaning toward a Euro-club sound for his new album, and he does just that on the techno-driven "We Don't Care," with its thumping bassline and organ-like riffs, and the dance track "Keep You Much Longer," which takes its cues from Haddaway's "What Is Love?" But there's no shortage of Akon's traditional boom-bap. And while "Troublemaker" and "Holla Holla" each sound a lot like earlier Akon songs, ultimately they're highlights for that very reason.

ARTIST: LUDACRIS

ALBUM: THEATER OF THE MIND (DTP/Def Jam)

Ludacris' 2006 album "Release Therapy" was supposed to illustrate some degree of personal growth, but "Theater" has no time for troublesome goal-setting. This one's stuffed with massive, flamboyant beats, overloud dirty-comic vocals and all the usual lyrical stops: the streets, women-slash-liquor and money, which is apparently important to him. Throughout, Ludacris brings the funny, gets off two or three killer lines per song (check out "Everybody Hates Chris," featuring Chris Rock, happily), seems to enjoy his cars and sex, takes shots at Bill O'Reilly and obtains cameos by every rapper you've ever heard of (and, of course, Ving Rhames).

ARTIST: NEIL YOUNG

ALBUM: LIVE AT CANTERBURY HOUSE 1968 (Reprise Records)

Neil Young's "Archives" project is poised to become the new "Chinese Democracy," but the wait helps get gems like this out of his vault. This album captures Young fresh out of Buffalo Springfield and five days shy of his 23rd birthday on the weekend before the release of his solo debut. It's an intimate performance in which the songs -- including winning takes of "On the Way Home," "Mr. Soul," "The Loner," "Trip to Tulsa" and, of course, "Sugar Mountain" -- aren't necessarily the stars of the show. That spot is reserved for a chatty and cheerful Young and his between-song raps about everything from the length of his hair to songwriting (he decides he needs more "happy" material) and using his first royalty check to buy a 1934 Bentley "with big lights and everything." It's the kind of recording that makes you wish you were there -- but also makes you feel like you are.

ARTIST: VARIOUS ARTISTS